Hi all, I'm getting seriously ahead of myself here (we haven't even collected our puppy yet!) - call it beginners enthusiasm. I just wanted to get some opinions on using 'Stay' as a command. Some people seem to use it as a separate command, eg 'Sit' and then 'Stay', whereas others say that whenever you give a 'Sit' command the 'Stay' part should be deemed to be included within it, ie you say 'Sit' and the dog sits and stays until told to move. How do you get your dog(s) to stay?
Re: To stay or not to stay, that is the question hi bob, jasper is my first dog, he is 9 month old, so my only experience is with him i use verbal and hand signals, my first command was sit.....once i was happy with his sit, i then added a wait i use the click and treat........i also use a whistle for the recall.......my advice would be to get a copy of pippas book total recall,
Re: To stay or not to stay, that is the question I use a sit and a wait because I can't rely on some of the other people who look after Riley to enforce a sit meaning sit until I tell you to do something else. In an ideal world I would only have used sit but it just wasn't practical for us.
Re: To stay or not to stay, that is the question You don't need to add the stay cue routinely after asking for a sit if you just want your dog to remain sitting for a fairly short time. But you do need to teach a release cue and use it to tell the dog 'the sit is over now, you can do what you like'. You want your dog to learn that he doesn't decide when an exercise is over - you do (but he needs to know that you will clearly tell him when it's over so he isn't left wondering or making up his own rules). An exercise (sit, or whatever) is over when you ask for something different or when you release your dog. For a release cue, use a word that you don't normally use in conversation. I say 'go free' and it means 'I'm all done, do what you like now'. I use this for telling my dog to come out of the crate, after taking off the lead for a run, or ending any obedience type exercise. To tell my dog not to move I use two cues - 'wait' and 'stay'. I use wait to mean 'hold that position but be prepared to be told to do something else'. I use stay only when I am going to leave my dog in the heel position and then return to my dog in the heel position without asking him to do anything in the meantime. Stay means 'hold that position - I am going to walk away but nothing else is going to happen till I return to your side'. What I'm saying is that you can teach different cues for slightly different versions of 'don't move' but the important thing is to know what the rule is meant to be for each cue and to apply it consistently. None of that explains how to teach a 'stay' or 'wait'. Is that what you were asking - how to teach it?
Re: To stay or not to stay, that is the question [quote author=Oberon link=topic=2696.msg27389#msg27389 date=1380054129]... None of that explains how to teach a 'stay' or 'wait'. Is that what you were asking - how to teach it? [/quote] The original question was simply curiousity about the approach taken, but by all means do elaborate on teaching methods - I'm trying to soak-up as much information as I can
